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City of Cockburn to increase staff to meet growing council’s demands

THE City of Cockburn has backed a decision to spend more than $535,000 on new staff in 2017-18, saying additional hands are needed to meet the demands of a growing council.

The City’s annual budget includes nine fresh staff positions, including a systems support officer, street tree officer and waste driver. All positions were flagged in the City’s 2016-17 to 2021-22 workforce plan.

City finance and corporate services director Stuart Downing said the council was growing, giving rise to the need for more staff.

“The City has proposed a number of new staff to meet the growing demand for services for the community,” he said.

One new position queried by Councillor Lee-Anne Smith at the City’s budget meeting on June 22 was that of a new playground officer. The position will cost $82,538 per annum, with up to $29,000 extra to be spent on a vehicle to help the officer conduct their duties.

City engineering and works director Charles Sullivan said at the meeting an extra team member was needed to handle maintenance at the City’s growing parks portfolio, with Bibra Lake Regional Playground to be the officer’s priority.

“With the construction of the new regional playground, there’s quite a different maintenance regime for the different parts of the playground,” he said.

“So the maintenance officer will be attending first up in the morning, making sure the site is safe for the children to play there, plus cleaning the areas where there could be an accumulation of debris or dangerous materials.”

Mr Sullivan said the officer would also patrol throughout the day, particularly during the high intensity playground times.

Mr Downing said the $82,538 included salary, superannuation, annual leave, long service leave and workers’ compensation insurance.